ALBUQUERQUE
– The second and final day of the USATF Indoor National Championships
provided the sold out Albuquerque crowd and ESPN TV audience with an
exciting experience as they witnessed spectacular events from the 60m
hurdles to the 1500m.

Distance Action:

Women’s 800m
– Pierce comfortably kicks down field to notch spot to Doha.

Team USA Minnesota
athlete Heather Dorniden took the lead from the gun and set an honest
pace with splits of 28.97 (200m) and 59.91 (400m) respectively.
Anna (Willard) Pierce and Alysia Johnson worked their way up before
Pierce took over at the bell. Johnson chased Pierce down the backstretch
but was unable to catch her, as Pierce pulled away around the final
turn to win in 2:00.84 locking up the fastest time in the US this year.
Most impressive was the ease with which Pierce took control and
smoothly ran away from the other runners. After her undefeated 800m outdoor season in 2009, Pierce appears to be rounding into form for World Indoors after starting her pro season with a loss at Reebok Boston. After that race, Pierce said, "I think I need a few more weeks and by USAs I’ll be ready to go."

Women’s 1500m
– Uceny runs boldly but fails to qualify for Doha due to lack of qualifying
time.

For the second
night in the row the longer women’s race proved to be very electrifying.
Morgan Uceny, who has been training with Anna Pierce in Mammoth Lakes,
CA, took the lead early in the race and ran strongly from the start
stringing out the pack behind her. 2008 Olympians, Erin Donohue
and Shannon Rowbury, hung back, shifting places with former University
of Tennessee star Sarah Bowman. Uceny looked to have the race
locked up at the bell but a fast charging Shannon Rowbury began to kick
coming even with Uceny in the final meters, but it was not enough as
Uceny won by a hair in 4:19.46 to Rowbury’s 4:19.48. Uceny failed
to hit the qualifying time for Doha and will thus be left off the team.
However, Rowbury and Donohue were the only two athletes to have the
qualifying times coming into the meet, finishing in second and third
respectively.

With defending national champion Khadevis Robinson scratching from the final, a new champion was to be crowned in this 2010 edition of the four lapper. Former USC All-American Duane Solomon made his intentions early by running straight to the front and knocking off a first lap of 24.9 and opening a large lead. Solomon's front running strung out the field of five. Coming across in a very respectable 52.6 through 400m (Albquerque is at altitude, Symmonds was in 2nd at 55.), Solomon still had a big 10m lead through 600m (120.79). Had Symmonds left it too late? With 100m to go he was still more than 5 meters back but closing fast. He stormed past Solomon to win in 1:48.10 and earn his second indoor championship. Symmonds will now try and improve on his 6th place at the 2008 World Indoors.

Afterwards, Symmonds said, "We all wanted to work together a little bit. I was supposed to take
over the lead with 150 to go but it was too fast. I just found a way to
work with him. I said last night I don't anyone is going to run under
1:48 on this track and I think we might have just done that."

Editor's note: The men's 800m final was one of the more exciting races and was the first race on the TV broadcast. You can watch it here on ESPN360 (everyone with Verizon, AT&T, on a college campus or a military base for sure can watch it).

Like the men’s
3000m, the 1500m final proved to be one of apprehension as the runners
ran timidly in the opening 1k. 2008 Olympian Leo Manzano made
his intentions clear by going to the pole position early. Running
splits of 62 through 400m and slowing to a pedestrian 2:10.7 at 800m,
Manzano led a pack of bunched runners. With 500m to go, as the
pace picked up, the race became a shoving match with the runners tripping
over each other to defend their positions. David Torrence, of
the newly formed Bay Area Track Club and Nike, pulled even with Manzano
with a lap and half to go, but Manzano, sensing the challenge would
not relinquish the lead. Reaching the bell in 3:22, Manzano held
steady while OTC Elite Will Leer showed great strength by kicking down
Manzano in the final fifty meters, but Manzano proved to be too strong
as he powered away to the win in 3:49.16. The race was reminiscent of Manzano’s 2008 NCAA title when he ran wire to wire
win to secure the win. After the race, Manzano did his best bride’s
impression by tossing his spike into the raucous Albuquerque crowd.
Speaking with OTC Elite and former Stanford star Russell Brown after
the race, it was apparent that it was indeed a physical race.
Brown, like many of the other milers, was blooded from being spiked.
On his fifth place finish, Brown admitted to not running as smartly
as he would have liked and that the jostling in the race led him to
loose much valued energy, especially once the race got going.
“In races like these where there is a small margin of error, the shoving
takes a lot out of you,” commented a exhausted Brown. Although
training in Albuquerque for the past six weeks, Brown noted that the
altitude was surely felt in the race.

Overall, the second day of
action put a strong ending to championships in New Mexico. Albuquerque will look to add to the grandeur when the Duke City again hosts
the championships in 2011.

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